Fastener.



No. 878,511. PATENTED FEB. 11, 1908.

' W. B. H. DOWSE.

' FASTENER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 29. 1907.

- MIMI-m UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM B. H. DOWSE, OF WEST NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED STATES FASTENER COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

FASTENER. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 11, 1908.

Application filed July 29. 1907. Serial No. 386.122.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM B. H. DowsE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of West Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fasteners. of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the construction of snap-fasteners and in particular to the socket members of such fasteners which are adapted to receive and hold a stud.

It is Well known in the art to which this invention relates that one at least of the two cooperating members of a snap fastener must be resilient and that provisions for resiliency may be located interchangeably either in the stud member or the socket member; I shall describe specifically a cooperating member whereof the'stud receiving part is non-resilient and therefore adapted to cooperation with a resilient stud.

In particular, my improvements presently to be described relate to socket members for snap fasteners of that class represented by Letters Patentof the .United States heretofore issued to me, namely Nos. 664,242 and 707,054, dated December 18, 1900 and Au ust 12, 1902, respectively, wherein the socket member is attached to the fabric, leather or other flexible material which composes the garment or adjunct thereto, without involvin any perforation of said material either before or during the attachment of the sna -fastener socket member.

In t e drawings hereto annexed which illustrate embodiments of my present improvements, Figure 1 (which includes Fig. 1) shows two parts of my socket member ready for attachment to material and a stud adapted to be received and held by the socket member ;Fig. 2 (which includes Fig. 2) shows the parts of a similar socket member adapted to receive a much larger stud than that illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 (including Fig. 3 shows the parts of a similar socket member adapted to receive and hold a stud of larger dimensions relatively to the socket member; Fig. 4 (including Fig. 4 shows the parts of a similar socket member where the socket member is relatively much larger than the stud; Figs. 5 and 6 show variations in ornamental perforations in the socket member; and Fig. 7 shows 111 cross section the mode in which the several parts of a socket member are assembled by attachment to flexible garment material.

One object therefore of my present improvements is to provide a socket member construction which is capable of any desired variation in dimensions or ornamentation and at the same time adapted to cooperation with studs of uniform structure and dimensions so that the economy due to uniformity in the stud .manufacture may be conserved. by the consumer who is at liberty to specify socket members of any style or size within the established practical limits.

Referring now to the drawings, I construct the socket member in two parts whereof the part which actually receives and accommodates the stud is composed of at least two pieces. The dome B is formed preferably with a more or less abrupt shoulder 72 and an outwardly turned annular flange 1) at its base. The collet C is crimped over the flange Z) at c and centrally perforated at c. The size of this central perforation c is the only dimension of the socket member (except its internal height) which is controlled or limited by the dimensions of the stud S with which the socket member has to cooperate, otherwise the dome B and collet C may be made of any diameter desired so long as the stud opening at c is of the right size to receive and engage the stud which the manufacturer may select or adopt as his standard.

The other part of the socket member is the ca A which has a crown a which may be perforated as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 so as to express a relatively large area of garment fabric or may be perforated or otherwise as shown in Fig. 6. The lower rim of the cap A is inwardly turned as at a, the internal diameter ,of the lower edge of the cap being enough larger than the external diameter of the crimped collet C to permit the cap being pressed down over the collet C with the material M (Fig. 7) between the cap and the dome B. I/Vhen the two parts of the socket member are thus arranged with the material between them, they are placed in the press and the dome B outwardly expanded by direct pressure on the top thereof, so that the shoulder I), which serves to localize and determine the direction and extent of expansion, crowds in between the crown a and the inturned flange (1, of the cap A, tightly compressing the material M between the two parts and to the material.

Figs. 1 2 3 and 4, show the caps A in plan view. It will be perceived by reference to Figs. 1 and 2, that the socket pieces whereof the domes and caps are of the same size may be made to cooperate with studs S of different sizes merely by enlarging the central perforation of the collet C and likewise it may be observed by examination of Figs. 3 and 4 that studs S of the same size may cooperate indifferently with socket members of different sizes, so long as the perforation in the collet C is of the proper dimensions.

By the above described improvements a socket piece construction is made available which conserves. all the esthetic advantages of the imperforate garment fabric (a feature which has been quite widely appreciated by glove manufacturers in particular) and at the same time lends all the desired facilities for meeting the diverse requirements of fastener users as to dimensions, ornamentation and style. Mechanically also the above described socket member requires onlyvertical pressure in order to secure it to the garment material. Another feature of my improvements resides in the peculiar shape of the cap A whereof the annular crown a covers and protects the fabric material M in the place where the latter is subject to the most severe strain in the act of setting the fastener member. If this material be tough and elastic it will readily stand the strain but when as in many cases, especially in the cheaper grades of gloves, the material is not of the best quality this strain is liable to crack the. material on the surface and these cracks while perhaps imperceptible at first, soon enlarge and disfigure the appearance of the finished goods. Moreover, even when the material is of sufl ficiently good quality to sustain the strain of stretching, the surface finish is worn through wherever this stretching occurs sooner than at other points so that the glove, for instance, is made to look shabby long before it is worn out. By covering and protecting the material around the edge of the pressed and expanded dome B by means of a crown a of the cap A the above difficulties are obviated while at the same time the exposure of the material M on the top of the socket member is to all practical intents preserved. This specific feature of improvement however, is not mechanically essential.

The cap A, or, more strictly speaking, its

lower flange portion a constitutes a girdle wherewith to press the garment material down over the dome in preparation for the expansion of the latter. As above explained the precise conformation of the girdle may be varied to suit the requirements of the consumer without departure from those improvements above described which relate particularly tothe construction of the dome and its collet.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A socket member of a snap-fastener comprising a stud receiving case composed of an expansible dome having an outwardly turned annular flange at its base and a stud-catching collet crimped at its periphery over said annular flange and centrally perforate to admit a stud, a girdle to press and hold thegarment material over said dome,.the dome expanded over said girdle and within the material confined thereby.

Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, this twenty-fifth day of July, 1907.

WILLIAM B. H. DOVVSE.

Witnesses:

FRED JOY, G. A. I-loLMEs. 

